


Aftermath

by Elwyne



Series: The Ex-Detectives [3]
Category: Broadchurch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 01:30:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1586678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elwyne/pseuds/Elwyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ellie has a sit-down with her sister; Tom has trouble with the law.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

"I slept with Alec Hardy."

Lucy spit tea across the kitchen table. "Bloody hell," she sputtered. "You did what?"

"You were right," said Ellie, hiding a smile behind her cup. "I needed a good shag."

"A good - Alec Hardy? You detest the man."

"Never stopped you."

"And when did this happen, dare I ask?"

"Last weekend, while the boys were with Olly."

Lucy frowned into her teacup. "You haven't anything stronger have you? Where's that rum you had for Christmas?"

"It's gone. There's some plonk."

"Sod that. We're going to the pub."

"Only if you're buying. I haven't a penny."

"All right," she sighed, rummaging in her handbag. "Lucky for us Olly takes care of his old mum. And his old auntie, it seems. There's that tenner. Now come on."

 

"All right, out with it," said Lucy as she set down their pints. "Why Alec Hardy, of all people?"

"He was there, I suppose," Ellie shrugged.

"He was where? Yours? Why was he there?"

"You know how Tom's been in and out of it with the police. Well, Alec's been taken on here, and he saw our name. He wanted to let me know, before we ran into each other by accident."

"And just accidentally ran into your bed, is that it?" She took a long swallow of beer. "My god, Ellie, how the mighty have fallen."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you know. You always were the good daughter. I suppose it's a bit of vindication to see you with the wrong man for once."

Ellie took a swallow of beer. The bitterness stung her mouth.

"But honestly," said Lucy, "why?"

"Do you know how hard it is to get to know people?"

"Never thought it was that important."

"Well I'm not about to go home with a stranger, not after everything I've seen. But to actually talk with someone... They ask these questions. They want to know where I'm from, why I'm raising the boys on my own. If I don't tell them something, they drift off. And if I do, I have to face that look." Ellie shuddered and gulped beer. "I can't bear that look. Like I'm diseased or something."

"You could make something up."

"I've never been a good liar. You know that."

"Don't I."

"But I don't have to explain myself to Alec. He already knows the worst of me, and doesn't look at me like I'm inhuman."

"That's new."

"I suppose so," Ellie laughed. She sipped her beer. "And I suppose the rum helped," she added thoughtfully.

"Ugh." Lucy swallowed the last of her beer and signaled for another. "So you shagged the old boss. At least he's out of your system now."

Ellie sipped her beer and didn't answer. 

"Don't tell me you're seeing him again," Lucy groaned.

"Don't see how, with the boys at home," said Ellie. "I mentioned to Tom that he was in town and I might ask him round to dinner."

"How did he take it?"

"As you'd expect," Ellie sighed. "It hasn't gotten any easier on him."

"Boys need their dad," said Lucy with sympathy. "I had a terrible time with Olly at that age."

"He turned out all right."

"Pure luck." Lucy picked up her fresh pint and took a long swallow. "I always thought it was your influence."

"Mine?"

"Well he didn't get basic decency from his parents, did he?"

"Don't be like that." Ellie squeezed her sister's hand. 

Lucy chuckled. "You're so good, Ellie," she said. "Tom will be all right. You'll see."

Ellie's phone buzzed against the table. "I hope so," she sighed. "That's him. Why are you not in school?" she demanded as she picked up.

"Mum," he said in a quavering voice. "I'm in trouble."

 

"I'm not sorry," Tom muttered, though his tear-stained cheeks suggested otherwise. Ellie gazed at him across the table. He looked so vulnerable under the interview room lights; no hardened criminal, only her sweet blond baby. Her arms itched to hold him again.

"You stabbed DI Hardy," she said.

"Deserved it, dint he?"

"How's that?"

Tom glowered at the floor. The silence stretched.

"He took my dad," he said finally. 

"What happened to your father was his own choice and his own responsibility," said Ellie curtly. "Not DI Hardy's."

"He didn't have to take him away."

"Yeah, he did," said Ellie. "He's a Detective Inspector. It's their job to take away murderers."

Tom winced at the word. Tears glistened in his sandy lashes.

"I don't know what to do now," Ellie went on. "Assaulting an officer is a serious crime. I'll have to hire a solicitor. There'll be a trial. You'll have to sit your GCSEs in jail -"

"Stop it!" Tom sobbed. "All right, I'm sorry!"

"What were you thinking?"

"I dunno," he sniffled. "I just saw him, right? And I got so angry -"

Ellie sighed. "How long are you going to be angry, Tom? How much of your life are you going to throw away?"

Her son wept quietly, looking very much the betrayed eleven-year-old he had been when his father went away. Ellie watched him with an aching heart. Then a knock came at the door. A young woman constable peered around the frame.

"Someone to see you, mum," she said.

"I'll be right back," she told Tom. He didn't look up. She followed the PC out into the hallway.

Alec Hardy waited there. His face was drawn and pale, his perennial dark suit rumpled. White bandages hid the last two fingers of his left hand. He tried a smile.

"Ellie," he said.

"You're all right?"

"Just a scratch. Three stitches." He patted his sleeve with a grimace.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I honestly thought he was getting better -"

"It's all right, Ellie." He gripped her shoulders with firm hands. "It's not your fault."

His voice, so calm and reasonable, soothed her. She wanted nothing more than to fall into his embrace. Instead she dried her eyes and cleared her throat.

"What do I do, Alec?"

"Go home," he said. "Take your son with you. There'll be no charges." He turned to the constable. "PC Tate, please take the Millers home. I'll handle the paperwork."

"Yes sir," she replied. "When you're ready, mum."

"No charges?" said Ellie in disbelief.

"Aye. No harm done." He opened the door to the interview room. Tom looked up in alarm. "Be away with you," said Alec.

"No charges," Ellie told Tom. He gaped in disbelief and scrambled to his feet. 

"Thank you, sir," he mumbled.

"What else?" said Ellie sharply.

Tom stared at his shoes. "I'm sorry," he said.

"Apology accepted. But I think you ought to offer your mother one as well."

Tears welled up in Tom's eyes. "I'm sorry, Mum," he said.

Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat and wrapped her arms around her son. "It's all right, love," she murmured. "We'll be all right."

 

Lucy was waiting at the house with Freddy when they arrived. "No charges?" she asked, eyebrow raised, when Ellie told her what had happened. "I suppose there are some perks after all."

"Stop it," said Ellie. "Tom, upstairs now. Freddy, say thank you to Aunt Lucy." She hugged her sister hard. "Thank you for getting him."

"Don't mention it," said Lucy. "I'll ring you tomorrow, we can talk about wedding plans. For Olly," she added with a teasing wink.

"Get out," said Ellie, smiling. Lucy breezed out the door and was gone.

"Is Tom in trouble?" asked Freddy. His small brow furrowed with worry.

"No, love." Ellie sank onto the couch and pulled him into her lap. "He was in trouble, but he said he was sorry. As long as he's very good he'll be okay."

"Tom's in trouble a lot."

"Being fifteen is hard, sweetheart."

"I don't want to be fifteen."

"Don't you worry about it. You be six just as long as you like." She hugged him close, breathing in his little-boy smell, wondering how she would live when he had grown lanky and sullen like his brother.

"I'll be seven soon," he reminded her.

"Course you will. Seven's all right too. And you know what? So is fifteen." She kissed his curly dark head and let him go. "Go wash your hands and you can help with dinner."

Freddy ran out of the room, full of enthusiasm. Her heart ached again as she watched him. The empty space in her life labeled husband and father loomed larger than it ever had. With a sigh she got up and went to the kitchen, and tried not to think of Alec.


End file.
